2014 FIFA World Cup: Final Draw 06.12.13

I was just more interested why this is such a sticking point. Thought the reason would be a bit more sexier though

 

Colombia will absolutely need an in-form Falcao to make any kind of run in the WC, they may be able to get past the first round without him, but not much farther unless he's there playing well. Do you think Falcao will be ready on time for the WC?

 

Even if he will be he will be so unfit and fragile I'm not sure taking him is a good idea.

 

Then again, Robben - who pretty much redefines "fragile" - joined the 2010 Dutch team late and made an important contribution.

 

We have a good bench in any case... Besides Colombia was never "Falcao dependent"

 

Well he's not 'needed' in the group stage and he can get that week and a half extra time to just get fitness. He may be a super sub in the group stage, but the odds are in his favor so we just need to be smart about this.

 

That's the point - it's one thing to overcome the injury in time but a totally different matter to actually get fit enough to play. Usually it takes many weeks for a player to gain back their fitness after the injury is healed. He will also need match practice and match fitness. I cannot see how he could possibly play the World Cup unless somebody uses some forbidden techniques
Adrian Ramos said in an interview in Germany on the weekend that he now has high hopes to replace Falcao. One man's loss is another man's gain I suppose

 

Yes he did. But only through some witch doctor work from a known quack doctor. Robben was able to play but the 'work' the Dutch doctor did caused so much damage that Robben ended up missing the next seven months. The Dutch federation got into huge trouble for that and Bayern successfully got compensation from them. This is hardly the model to take for Falcao unless the Colombian FA is keen to compensate Monaco for millions afterwards.

 

With the fact that Falcao is in 'amazing shape' according to the surgeon, the health care in Monaco itself, and how he has the time to get in shape after recovering, I am staying positive.

But like many pointed out, we still have plenty of backups; we've actually complained that we have too many good strikers as it is. Also, Adrian may only get the bench spot when there's other higher in demand strikers to replace Falcao:

Jackson Martinez
Carlos Bacca
Luis Muriel
Victor Ibarbo
Fredy Montero
etc.

 

Of those I would only rate Bacca on the same level as Ramos. Jackson Martinez is totally overrated and plays in a very weak league while Ramos is currently top scorer in the Bundesliga. Bacca is very gifted and is a natural goalscorer.

Having said all of this though modern football is decided in midfield. That's precisely the reason why Zlatan or Lewandowski won't go to the WC - their teams are too weak in midfield and as a result neither one of them get the support in the national team that they're used to from their clubs.

 

Well then it's a good thing that our strikers aren't our strongest point; if you look at the goals we score, it's very 'spread' with various of players and not as much as the typical goal scorers (strikers) that you would expect. Our midfielders are the reason why we're that flexible.

 

Agreed, sorry, didn't mean to suggest colombia were weak there. It was a general obervation because Zlatan and Lewandowski were mentioned in this thread

 

No harm no foul~

But I was upset that neither team could make it; I particular like Poland because of their sexy jerseys.

 

Everything depends how well Pekerman manages us by this point.

Also, the tournament tree is NOT in our favor if we do top our group so I think we may only last to quarter finals.

XDD

 

Poland were miles off the pace, they finished behind England, Ukraine and Montenegro in qualifying. Strange for a country with three players in last season's Champions League final. Sweden were unlucky with the draw, they had to play Germany and finished second in that group while dominating all the other teams. in the playoff match against Portugal they played well but got defeated by a Ronaldo one-man show. But that's UEFA and their silly qualifying format which unfortunately sees good teams stay at home while some weak teams go through.

 

Out of the 180 minutes plus stoppage, so lets say 190 minutes, Sweden had about 20 good minutes. Zlatan had 3 good moments, 2 of which were goals within a 10 minute span. So basically Portugal dictated the majority of both games, Ronaldo scored 2 goals off of absolutely beautiful Moutinho passes, plus 1 off a excellent Veloso cross. Pepe and Alves kept Zlatan in their back pocket both games, minus the 1 corner and the free kick which they weren't at fault for. What the highlights don't show you is Ronaldo missed a half dozen good chances including 1 off the bar.

Sweden didn't create much of anything NOT because of Ronaldo, also Ronaldo did not pass to himself, and not many mid-fielders have the vision and accuracy of Moutinho. In short Sweden lost because they played against a superior team, plain and simple. It upsets me the guys like Moutinho and Coentrao can have excellent games, yet peoples obsession with Ronaldo along with the media's hard on for him, can make people completely ignore it.

 

If you want to.
Why don´t we trade places, you guys play in group B, instead of us, while we play in C, instead of you guys.

 

What's the status of the rest of the ligaments? MCL, PCL? Meniscus as well? My girlfriend tore her ACL and partially tore her meniscus two winters ago snowboarding, and her knee still isn't right because of the meniscus repair. In a lot of these cases, recovery seems contingent on what kind of tear(s) actually happened, multiple, just one, which one, and of course the pesky meniscus, which I tore in high school and developed into a chronic problem (basically made playing serious basketball and tennis scary)).

Personally, I don't think it's viable either, AP came back in 9 months fine, and was flying after four and a half, but everyone and their mother assumes the NFL is rife w/HGH and other associated drugs, getting back will take a long time, and even if he does get to the point where he could technically play, I don't think he'd be even close to match fit. It would be one thing if he got hurt in September, but its January, and late January at that. It's just too late, unless they know more about the degree of the injury, and it's not a terrible scenario like some knee injuries are. I've definitely seen worse looking ones, but they all usually require 9-12 months of rehab to get back into shape, and get the knee right, and another year to actually be back at the level you were pre-injury and sometimes it never comes back, period though at least the success rate w/the injury seems much higher these days than 20-25 years ago, heck, even 10 years ago.

 

Hey if Ronaldo could do it in 2002 and Pele in 1950, compared to how the medical service was back then and how it is NOW, a miracle is very possible.

 

I hope so, other than an injury to my squad, the one guy I was most hoping to see this summer was Falcao, I just have never had the opportunity to really see him play live other than on clips, and I'd absolutely love to see him playing against Japan, Greece, Ivory Coast, and Uruguay/Italy.

 

First, I'm not completely aware about the status of Falcao's case, but according to the doctor whom treated him, if he said that he has about 50 % of chances to be back in time for the WC, he sure must be considering inmediate recovery time after surgery and the time required to have full knee functionality in order to be capable to compete once again in very high stressful sport conditions, as the ones we have in pro soccer.

Maybe the type of injury that affected his ACL, at first appeared to be worst than what really happened to him. Most of the times sportsmen who practice stressful disciplines (as soccer) and suffer injuries in this ligamentan, it is a level 3 type of injury, which implies the full rupture of the ligament, where surgery is the only option, where a tendinous tissue (tendons or ligaments, obtained usually from the same patient) is used to replace the tore ligament, and what is expected is that the same body must forms a new ACL out of it, which takes at least 6 months to happen (time where no sport activity should be done by the knee), so the time of rehab to recover that sportsman to full sporting activity, would actually be lots longer than those 6 months (for some athletes it could mean to quit from all competitive activity).

The other possibility, is that he only suffered a level 2 type of injury, where some fibers in his ACL suffered rupture, but the integrity of it still remains being viable (allows it to partially perform its function), where in many cases, the need of surgery is not necessary, and if performed, a small suture or other techniques may be used to help it recover its full functionality. In this case, full recovery time is lots faster than level 3 type of injuries, but in any case, still needs time without activity in order to heal appropiately and some more time of rehab, afterwards. The total time of full recovery also depends on many individual factors (associated to the patient).

 

Yea you're right he's the only player that can make a difference for colombia and produce any kind of danger…man we shouldn't even go because falcao might not go

 

Good thing we're prepared...

 

IFFHS World’s Best National Coach 2013

1.Vicente Del Bosque (Spain)
2.Joachim Low (Germany)
3.Luis Felipe Scolari (Brazil)
4.Marc Wilmonts Belgium)
5.Jose Pekerman (Colombia)
6.Alejandro Sabella (Argentina)
7.Oscar Tabarez (Uruguay)
8.Cesare Prandelli Italy)
9.Jurgen Klinsmann (USA)

I wonder why there's no number 10...anyways, does anyone else have argument with this list?